Wherever large heights must be overcome, such as on chimneys, high buildings, silos, cable car poles, transmitting antennas, wind power plants, high-voltage towers, cranes, and the like, typically ladders are permanently mounted such that, for example, maintenance and repair work can be performed at all times. For example, in Germany alone hundreds of thousands of such high-voltage towers are used for power supply purposes, which are frequently provided with permanently installed ladders.
According to ladder and step-related accident statistics, annually about 40,000 falling accidents occur in Germany, of which 40 end fatally. Climbing up and down ladders is dangerous; a study conducted by the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, showed that about 70% of accidents occurred in connection with ladders that are permanently installed, with users frequently falling. A wide variety of ladder types are available, which are primarily based on the rung principle. When climbing up and down, the user must feel his way with his hands and feet from one rung to the next—and missing a grip or step is easily possible.
From U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,858, a climbing device is known, which comprises a foot platform for arranging both feet thereon and a hand grip for holding on to with both hands. The platform and the grip are held on a track, which is mounted, for example, to a mast of a sailboat. This device is suited for overcoming smaller heights, however not for high-voltage towers, because during climbing the foot platform must be pulled up with both arms and is then locked to the track.
From DE 102 01 965, a device for covering vertically upwardly directed sections is known. The invention describes a climbing aid operated by muscle power, which can be displaced upward and/or downward on a stationary ladder in the manner of a crawler.
Furthermore, WO 2005/016461 proposes an arrangement and/or climbing aid for the ascending and/or descending of a person. This climbing aid can both be manually operated or driven by means of a motor and allows a person to overcome great heights without difficulty. Both the climbing aid described in this international application and the one known from DE 102 01 965, however, are relatively large and heavy and cannot be transported by one person without difficulty. The climbing aids described in the two published prior art documents are rather suited for use with larger repair work, where additional tools are required anyhow, and not for the mobile, simple application, where an inspecting individual, for example, must perform routine checks.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to propose a climbing aid, which is particularly suited for overcoming large heights, is easily and universally employable, and which a person can transport without difficulty. Transportation may occur, for example, in a rucksack or another carrying vessel, whereas also a mobile use in difficult terrain becomes possible.
According to the invention, the object at hand is achieved by an arrangement according to the invention.
The proposed arrangement or system primarily comprises two elements, which is to say a rail-type, elongated profiled element and the actual climbing aid. The elongated, rail-type profiled element has a simple profile, which can preferably be fixed to an object to be climbed, such as a high-voltage tower, a mast of a cable car, and the like. The profiled element comprises guiding elements, such as at least one guiding part, which extends longitudinally along the profiled element and is suited for holding and guiding the climbing aid, and a part that is suitable for transmitting a force and/or absorbing the transmission of a force from the at least one climbing aid.
A core piece of the present invention are two climbing consoles, which are suited and provided for disposition on the elongated, rail-type profiled element and which enable a person to climb along the profiled element, for example on a high-voltage tower. The two climbing consoles each comprise a foot supporting surface and a guiding section that embraces or grips the guiding part on the profiled element, and furthermore comprises a holding section, which rests against or on the profiled element opposite to the guiding section and is suited to rest against or on the part for absorbing force transmission. The guiding part ensures that the climbing console on the one hand is held securely on the profiled element and cannot give way laterally, and on the other hand is guided securely on the profiled element during the motion along this element. The holding section guarantees that the climbing console is held tightly on the profiled element when the console is not being moved and prevents slipping of the person standing on the foot supporting surface along the profiled element. The guiding section and holding section are disposed on the climbing console such that, for example, tiltable or freely longitudinally displaceable arrangement of the console or the foot supporting surface on the profiled element in relation to the force transmitting part is possible such that the holding section, for example during the tilting motion, can be removed at least partially from the force transmitting section on the profiled element in order to enable displacement of the console along the profiled element.
It is also conceivable to dispose the guiding section and holding section on the console in a manner that they can be displaced toward or away from each other in a parallelogram-like manner such that climbing up or down is possible without a tilting motion of the foot support.
According to a further variant, a plurality of guiding sections are provided, for example as guiding rollers used on a carriage or cart-like device, which are disposed longitudinally displaceably on the profiled element, wherein the device is connected to the respective climbing console, for example, by means of a rotational axis. In addition, the holding section or sections are coupled in terms of motions to the respective climbing console, independently from the motions of the guiding section or sections, such that during an inclined or tilted position of the climbing console the holding section or sections are removed from the profiled element, and that the holding section or sections firmly rest against the profiled element in the resting position of the person or the corresponding foot, which is to say with a substantially perpendicular orientation of the respective console in relation to the profiled element. According to one variant, two holding sections are provided, which encompass the respective side of the profiled element in clamp or jaw-like manner.
The elongated, rail-type profiled element can be configured, for example, in a U-shaped, T-shaped, H-shaped manner or the like, for example having leg-like and/or pipe-like guiding parts on the sides, which the guiding section of each console can embrace or grip.
If, for example, the profiled element, as it is described in WO 2005/016461, comprises tongue-like or grid-like longitudinal guides or recesses, it is possible, for example, to provide engaging parts or pawl-like locking means protruding on the holding section or to provide the supporting surface on the holding section with convexities or cams, which engage in the grid-like or toothed rack-like notches or openings of the profiled element when fixing the climbing console in place, for example at least substantially in a locking manner. It is also possible, however, that the supporting surface of the holding section is configured to be rough or, for example, partially elastic in order to enable retention as a result of high frictional forces.
Further preferred variants, particularly of the climbing consoles, are described below.
The climbing consoles according to the invention in particular are suited for use together with an elongated, rail-type profiled element, as is described in WO 2005/016461, for example. By using the inventive climbing consoles, it is possible, instead of the high-standard climbing consoles comprising also a foot platform, handles, drive mechanisms and the like described in WO 2005/016461, to use simple climbing consoles, which a person can carry, for example, in a bag, a rucksack or just in general in a mobile manner, in order to then use them, for example on a high-voltage tower, to climb along the profiled element claimed according to the invention.
In addition to the climbing consoles described according to the invention, advantageously further holding elements may be used, by means of which the climbing person can hold on to the profiled element or a high-voltage tower, the elements being in part known well from conventional climbing devices. These may be collar-like holding elements, which can be mounted to the profiled element, or placed around cable-like holding elements, which in turn can be placed, for example, around the high-voltage towers, and the like. These additionally known holding elements for holding the climbing person by means of the hands, or by means of securing elements placed around the person, for example on the back, or disposed on the belt strap, are not primary components of the present invention and therefore these elements will not be addressed in further detail. Instead, the present invention proposes a fall protection safety device for persons, which is advantageously also suited for the combined use with the above-described climbing consoles.
The carriage or cart-like safety device, which is freely longitudinally displaceable on the profiled element along the profiled element, embracing the same at least partially from the outside. The safety device comprises a locking device, which can be connected to a person climbing up or down the profiled element such that the longitudinally displaceable safety device is locked during a potential fall that may occur.
For this purpose, it is proposed to provide a pawl engaging on or in the profiled element, wherein the pawl immediately engages in the profiled element if tensile forces occur from the profiled element as a result of the connection of the person to be secured, for example vertically outward or in the case of downwardly directed forces, and locks the safety device.
The invention will be explained in more detail by way of examples and with reference to the enclosed figures.